Met. Is there no voice more worthy than my own, To sound more sweetly in great Cæsar's ear, For the repealing of my banished brother?

Bru. I kiss thy hand, but not in flattery, Cæsar; Desiring thee, that Publius Cimber may Have an immediate freedom of repeal. Cæs. What, Brutus!

Cas.

Pardon, Cæsar; Cæsar, pardon.

As low as to thy foot doth Cassius fall,

To beg enfranchisement for Publius Cimber.
Cæs. I could be well moved, if I were as you :
If I could pray to move, prayers would move me;
But I am constant as the northern star,

Of whose true-fixed and resting quality,
There is no fellow in the firmament.

The skies are painted with unnumbered sparks;
They are all fire, and every one doth shine;
But there's but one in all doth hold his place:
So, in the world. 'Tis furnished well with men,
And men are flesh and blood, and apprehensive;1
Yet, in the number, I do know but one
That unassailable holds on his rank,

Unshaked of motion; 2 and, that I am he,

Let me a little show it, even in this;

That I was constant, Cimber should be banished,
And constant do remain to keep him so.

Cin. O Cæsar,

unfaithfully; but Mr. Tyrwhitt surmised, and Mr. Gifford is decidedly of opinion, that the passage originally stood as cited by Jonson; thus:"Met. Cæsar, thou dost me wrong.

Cas. Cæsar did never wrong, but with just cause."

Mr. Tyrwhitt has endeavored to defend the passage by observing, that wrong is not always a synonymous term for injury; and that Cæsar is meant to say, that he doth not inflict any evil or punishment but with just cause. "The fact seems to be (says Mr. Gifford), that this verse, which closely borders on absurdity, without being absolutely absurd, escaped the Poet in the heat of composition; and being one of those quaint slips which are readily remembered, became a jocular and familiar phrase for reproving (as in the passage of Ben Jonson's Induction) the perverse and unreasonable expectations of the male or female gossips of the day."

1 i. e. intelligent, capable of apprehending.

2 i. e. "still holds his place unshaken by suit or solicitation," of which the object is to move the person addressed.

Cæs.

Hence! wilt thou lift up Olympus?

Dec. Great Cæsar,

Cæs.

Doth not Brutus bootless kneel? Casca. Speak, hands, for me.

[CASCA stabs CESAR in the neck. CESAR catches hold of his arm. He is then stabbed by several other Conspirators, and at last by MARCUS BRUTUS.

Cæs. Et tu, Brute?1-Then, fall, Cæsar.

[Dies. The Senators and People retire in
confusion.

Cin. Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead!-
Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets.
Cas. Some to the common pulpits, and cry out,
Liberty, freedom, and enfranchisement!

Bru. People, and senators! be not affrighted;
Fly not; stand still :-ambition's debt is paid.
Casca. Go to the pulpit, Brutus.2

Dec.

Bru. Where's Publius?

And Cassius too.

Cin. Here, quite confounded with this mutiny. Met. Stand fast together, lest some friend of Cæsar's Should chance

Bru. Talk not of standing.-Publius, good cheer; There is no harm intended to your person,

Nor to no Roman else: so tell them, Publius.

Cas. And leave us, Publius; lest that the people, Rushing on us, should do your age some mischief.

1 Neither Suetonius nor Plutarch furnished Shakspeare with this exclamation. It occurs in The True Tragedie of Richard Duke of York, 1600; on which he formed the Third Part of King Henry VI. :—

"Et tu, Brute? Wilt thou stab Cæsar too?"

And is translated in Cæsar's Legend, Mirror for Magistrates, 1587 :— "And Brutus thou my sonne, quoth I, whom erst

I loved best."

The words probably appeared, originally, in the old Latin play on the Death of Cæsar.

2 We have now taken leave of Casca. Shakspeare knew that he had a sufficient number of heroes on his hands, and was glad to lose an individual in the crowd. Casca's singularity of manners would have appeared to little advantage amid the succeeding war and tumult.

Bru. Do so; and let no man abide this deed, But we the doers.

Re-enter TREBONIUS.

Fled to his house amazed:

Cas. Where's Antony?

Tre.
Men, wives, and children, stare, cry out, and run,
As it were doomsday.

Bru.

Fates! we will know your pleasures.—
That we shall die, we know; 'tis but the time,
And drawing days out, that men stand upon.
Cas. Why, he that cuts off twenty years of life,
Cuts off so many years of fearing death.

Bru. Grant that, and then is death a benefit.
So are we Cæsar's friends, that have abridged
His time of fearing death.-Stoop, Romans, stoop,
And let us bathe our hands in Cæsar's blood
Up to the elbows, and besmear our swords:
Then walk we forth, even to the market-place;
And, waving our red weapons o'er our heads,
Let's all cry, Peace! Freedom! and Liberty!

Cas. Stoop, then, and wash. How many ages hence, Shall this our lofty scene be acted over,

In states unborn, and accents yet unknown!

Bru. How many times shall Cæsar bleed in sport, That now on Pompey's basis lies along,

No worthier than the dust!

Cas.

So oft as that shall be,

So often shall the knot of us be called
The men that gave our country liberty.
Dec. What, shall we forth?

Cas.

Ay, every man away.

Brutus shall lead; and we will grace his heels
With the most boldest and best hearts of Rome.

Enter a Servant.

Bru. Soft, who comes here? A friend of Antony's. Serv. Thus, Brutus, did my master bid me kneel;

Thus did Mark Antony bid me fall down:
And, being prostrate, thus he bade me say :-
Brutus is noble, wise, valiant, and honest;
Cæsar was mighty, bold, royal, and loving.
Say, I love Brutus, and I honor him;

Say, I feared Cæsar, honored him, and loved him.
If Brutus will vouchsafe, that Antony
May safely come to him, and be resolved
How Cæsar hath deserved to lie in death,
Mark Antony shall not love Cæsar dead
So well as Brutus living; but will follow
The fortunes and affairs of noble Brutus,
Thorough the hazards of this untrod state,
With all true faith. So says my master Antony.
Bru. Thy master is a wise and valiant Roman;
I never thought him worse.

Tell him, so please him come unto this place,
He shall be satisfied; and, by my honor,

Depart untouched.

Serv.

Bru. I know that we shall have him well to friend

Cas. I wish we may; but yet have I a mind, That fears him much; and my misgiving still Falls shrewdly to the purpose.

Re-enter ANTONY.

Bru. But here comes Antony.-Welcome, Mark
Antony.

Ant. O mighty Cæsar! dost thou lie so low?
Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils,
Shrunk to this little measure?-Fare thee well.-
I know not, gentlemen, what you intend ;
Who else must be let blood, who else is rank:1

1 Johnson explains this :-"Who else may be supposed to have overtopped his equals, and grown too high for the public safety." This explanation will derive support from the following speech of Oliver, in As You Like It, Act i. Sc. 1, when incensed at the high bearing of his brother Orlando:-"Is it even so? begin you to grow upon me? I will physic your rankness.”

If I myself, there is no hour so fit

As Cæsar's death's hour! nor no instrument

Of half that worth, as those your swords, made rich With the most noble blood of all this world.

I do beseech you, if you bear me hard,

Now, whilst your purpled hands do reek and smoke,
Fulfil your pleasure. Live a thousand years,
I shall not find myself so apt to die;

No place will please me so, no mean of death,
As here by Cæsar, and by you cut off,
The choice and master spirits of this

age.
Bru. O Antony! beg not your death of us.
Though now we must appear bloody and cruel,
As by our hands, and this our present act,
You see we do; yet see you but our hands,
And this the bleeding business they have done :
Our hearts you see not; they are pitiful;
And pity to the general wrong of Rome,
(As fire drives out fire, so pity, pity,)

Hath done this deed on Cæsar. For your part,
To you our swords have leaden points, Mark Antony:
Our arms in strength of malice, and our hearts,
Of brothers' temper, do receive you in

With all kind love, good thoughts, and reverence.1
Cas. Your voice shall be as strong as any man's,

In the disposing of new dignities.

Bru. Only be patient, till we have appeased
The multitude, beside themselves with fear,
And then we will deliver you the cause,

Why I, that did love Cæsar when I struck him,
Have thus proceeded.

Ant.
I doubt not of your wisdom.
Let each man render me his bloody hand:
First, Marcus Brutus, will I shake with you;-

1 "To you (says Brutus) our swords have leaden points: our arms, strong in the deed of malice they have just performed, and our hearts united like those of brothers in the action, are yet open to receive you with all possible regard." This explanation is offered by Steevens; and yet, perhaps, we should read, as he himself suggested :

VOL. VI.

"Our arms no strength of malice."
7